It is not a lesser card. It is balanced with attention to the needs of IEM's. I don't know all the details but it will be made to get the most out of balanced IEM's.

Thanks man! Was hoping to give myself an excuse to not wait for this iem amp board but guess I still need to wait for a demo after all! Any word on expected availability?Edited by kkcc - 6/16/13 at 3:30am

I think a Mini/Micro Dock for travel would be a nice option that would bring it into equal feature set with the HM-801. Really liked the swiss army knife aspect of having so many connection options.

As it stands, you can't do more than two things without the large desktop dock with the proprietary connector on the HM-901. Want to recharge and do line out at the same time on the go? Sorry, can't do that. Want to recharge and SPDIF input at the same time? Sorry, can't do that either. Want to recharge, SPDIF, and Line out to an external amp? Nope. Pick one.

Also, the HM-901 cuts off a significant portion of the first part of every track played, which is made even worse with gapless, Hopefully it gets fixed in the next firmware update.

And the UI while much nicer and more intuitive than the HM-801, is much slower than the HM-801. There is a 2-5 second delay when trying to play another song when navigating to another folder. Which is extremely irritating.

That said, I really like the HM-901. It is a definite improvement in Sound Quality over the HM-801. But it's a big step backwards in features and UI performance.

I think a Mini/Micro Dock for travel would be a nice option that would bring it into equal feature set with the HM-801. Really liked the swiss army knife aspect of having so many connection options.

As it stands, you can't do more than two things without the large desktop dock with the proprietary connector on the HM-901. Want to recharge and do line out at the same time on the go? Sorry, can't do that. Want to recharge and SPDIF input at the same time? Sorry, can't do that either. Want to recharge, SPDIF, and Line out to an external amp? Nope. Pick one.

My thoughts as well. Still interested in hearing one for sure, but it seems like the DX100 would be a better TOTL portable rig from a feature-set perspective.

For in office or home use attached to a computer, the HM-901 Dock will be perfect. If true asynchronous USB 24/192 is supported, it's all I'll need for Home and Office use. But I'd also like Asynchronous USB 24/192 (or at the very least 24/96) for travel. The Current Dock is huge, way too much for travel. I would like to see a mini dock with all you need, but no frills, and small and light as possible.

Also, a dedicated spare battery charging box would be great as well, and would also address the overheating issue with charging while using the HM-901 at the same time.

That said for travel use for music only on the go, the HM-901 is an all in one unit. The stepped attenuator is fantastic, so cutting out, or audible clicks in between steps.

Also, being able to have a single 128GB SDXC card on it is awesome. Can't wait until there are affordable 256GB SDXC cards available. :)

I think a Mini/Micro Dock for travel would be a nice option that would bring it into equal feature set with the HM-801. Really liked the swiss army knife aspect of having so many connection options.

As it stands, you can't do more than two things without the large desktop dock with the proprietary connector on the HM-901. Want to recharge and do line out at the same time on the go? Sorry, can't do that. Want to recharge and SPDIF input at the same time? Sorry, can't do that either. Want to recharge, SPDIF, and Line out to an external amp? Nope. Pick one.

Also, the HM-901 cuts off a significant portion of the first part of every track played, which is made even worse with gapless, Hopefully it gets fixed in the next firmware update.
And the UI while much nicer and more intuitive than the HM-801, is much slower than the HM-801. There is a 2-5 second delay when trying to play another song when navigating to another folder. Which is extremely irritating.

That said, I really like the HM-901. It is a definite improvement in Sound Quality over the HM-801. But it's a big step backwards in features and UI performance.
But in the end, Sound Quality reins supreme.

The UI lag wasn't as bad when I demo it at the shop. Though they only loaded about 30 or so tracks on it and I didn't have my SD adapter to use my micro cards. To me the 901 reacted quicker than dx100...

There are approximately 70 employees at this site, which was manufacturing and assembling the HiFiman headphone amplifiers and daps. Testing of some headphones also is done here as well as research and development.

Upon entering the main section of the factory, you see many HM901's assembled and being tested.

One of the many tests the HM601 undergoes.

Testing of the HM901.

Close inspections of assembled parts.

S/N ratio and channel separation is checked on each and every HM901 and is recorded.

Assembly of a HM901.

Volume control found in the HM901. The coin in the foreground is a little larger than a US dime.

I think a Mini/Micro Dock for travel would be a nice option that would bring it into equal feature set with the HM-801. Really liked the swiss army knife aspect of having so many connection options.

As it stands, you can't do more than two things without the large desktop dock with the proprietary connector on the HM-901. Want to recharge and do line out at the same time on the go? Sorry, can't do that. Want to recharge and SPDIF input at the same time? Sorry, can't do that either. Want to recharge, SPDIF, and Line out to an external amp? Nope. Pick one.

Also, the HM-901 cuts off a significant portion of the first part of every track played, which is made even worse with gapless, Hopefully it gets fixed in the next firmware update.

And the UI while much nicer and more intuitive than the HM-801, is much slower than the HM-801. There is a 2-5 second delay when trying to play another song when navigating to another folder. Which is extremely irritating.

That said, I really like the HM-901. It is a definite improvement in Sound Quality over the HM-801. But it's a big step backwards in features and UI performance.

But in the end, Sound Quality reins supreme.

Regarding UI response:

Have you tried removing all non-audio files from the SD card and internal memory? This could help.

Mine seems to start at the 1st second of play, right at the beginning. I will pay more attention. Seek time, when I go to another album is pretty fast, 2 seconds or so, 1 thousand one, 1 thousand 2 and it is there, fast enough for me.